AIPLA Comments on USPTO Initiatives to Ensure the Robustness and Reliability of Patent Rights
Written February 8, 2023
Arlington, VA. February 8, 2023 - The American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) submitted comments to the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s ("The Office”) Request for Comments on possible initiatives of the Office to ensure the robustness and reliability of patent rights.
The Office’s proposed initiatives potentially affect several aspects of the examination process, including prior art searching by examiners, requirements for applicants to show support for claims in the disclosure of patent applications, request for continued examination (RCE) practice, restriction practice, terminal disclaimers, and continuation practice. AIPLA’s comments were generally supportive of the Office’s willingness to consider new initiatives in its continuing effort to improve the patent system and its willingness to listen to feedback from stakeholders. The comments discussed how AIPLA believes that some of the possible initiatives could improve the Office’s examination processes. However, the comments indicated that AIPLA is concerned that many of the possible initiatives would lower patent quality and unduly burden applicants without any assurances of achieving any of the desired effects.
To view the complete comments, please download the comment letter posted to the right of this page.